This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Mrs F and I decided to avoid any risk of M25 related issues by staying over in the Hilton Gatwick South the night before. Twilight check-in was the order of the day, why drag cases to the room and back if I can check them in? However, Virgin could improve the experience very simply by adding some barriers to make the Upper, Premium and Economy queues more obvious. We walked past the line queuing for economy and up to the Upper Class desk. Just as we did that a passenger detached herself from the back of the queue and headed for us like a torpedo, “Flying Upper are you?” she sneered. “Yes!” was the simply reply and she slunk off back to the back of the queue having been denied her role as the queue police. Perhaps I just don’t look like an Upper Class passenger?
An uneventful evening in an executive room (definitely worth the premium over a standard room IMHO, the exec rooms are in the newer wing with refurbished furniture) and access to the executive lounge. The evening drinks in the lounge run from 1830-2030 and a pretty decent spread is laid on with chicken wings, falafel, charcuterie plate, cheese and biscuits and a fair selection of complimentary wines, beers and spirits. Definitely how a lounge should be – Hilton Dulles take note!
LGW
In the morning, a brisk journey through Gatwick security, with surprisingly happy staff at 0630, led us into the empty Clubhouse.
0700 rolled round and with the Spa now open we booked treatments for later in the day and sat down to enjoy breakfast.
It must be a V-flyer thing but every time I see “VA The Clubhouse” on the crockery I mentally correct it to VS. I need to get out more…
We were particularly restrained this trip and held off on the bubbles until 0715 when we finally caved and went for some Virgin Redheads – “it’s a gateway cocktail,” Mrs F warned me, “it’ll lead you to the harder stuff later!”
With breakfast over we took to the comfy chairs and watched our 747 taxi onto a very sunny stand 19.
There we were approached by a lady with an iPad, “are you flying club members, do you collect points?” she enquired. I nearly choked on my Redhead. There are people who don’t collect points? This trip was a pair of G’s so I was immediately interested. She was offering enhanced credit card signup bonuses – 12,000 points on the White card or 32,000 points on the Black if you joined in the Clubhouse. A significant improvement on 3,000/18,500 miles that’s open to the public, it would seem that the EU interchange cap hasn’t killed all the good offers quite yet!
It came time for our massage and while Mrs F was very dignified, I resorted to screams of oooooh and arghhhh as the therapist worked out my knots with hot stones. It really was excellent and by the time we were finished I felt like a new man.
Flight
We decided to leave the lounge a little ahead of the masses as we were sat in 6 a/k which are a bit of a mixed blessing. Great during the flight but, if the occupants of 7 a/k aren’t frequent flyers, they might not know to leave you bin space as there’s nothing over row 6.
Since we were the first on in Upper the cabin was very quiet. This gave us a chance for Mrs F to give a box of Thornton’s chocolates to the CSM – instant happiness and a long chat about the good bars to visit in Havana.
The other Cabin Crew Member who was working UC seemed to be very new, I overheard someone else on board ask where to plug in their headphones and they got the reply, “I suppose I should know, but I don’t.” Not ideal by any stretch.
Departure was delayed again and again due to “cargo issues” and we eventually pushed back 50 minutes late. Once airborne we turned west and after what seemed like the longest step-climb ever reached cruising level and headed off to Cuba.
The weather Gods must have been against us as turbulence was almost immediate and continued to varying degrees throughout the flight. However, just to the west of Ireland it did settle down enough to get the lunch service out. It was the first day of a brand new menu and the crew were working hard to plate the unfamiliar dishes. They didn’t do too bad a job I’d say:
The prawns were pretty good, although the caviar was a bit more style than substance, their flavour lost amongst the onions.
The chicken, I thought was good, but there really wasn’t a particularly strong flavour in the dish other than the asparagus. I think it could be improved with a little sauce, perhaps something as simple as a drizzle of pesto over the top just to perk it up a little. Mrs F said hers was dry so there’s obviously a little variation in where it goes in the oven.
Dinner was finished off with cheese and biscuits. The cheese comes pre-portioned and, since I don't like stilton, the serving was a little small to cover the 4 biscuits provided. It would have been better if the cheese was cut and served on board. The port was really excellent.
The cabin then settled down until a few hours before landing when I decided to order the burger from the graze menu. This seemed to jolt everyone into action as person after person suddenly decided to order more food. My burger was a little cold but tasty. The winner was Mrs F’s tasting menu, the fishcakes had real zing!
Arrival at Havana
Havana is worth a few words as the arrivals process is a little different to any I’ve seen before. Once off the jet bridge you pass through a few corridors and down some stairs to passport control. Several of the passport gates have signs over them that say “cruise passengers” so most of the flight avoided those for fear of being sent back. You don’t need to worry, they are perfectly ok to use.
Once passport and Cuban visa have been checked you then pass through a security checkpoint similar to that you would find in UK departures, a metal detector arch and hand baggage X-Ray machine. The purpose of this search isn’t clear but it does keep a lot of people employed – perhaps that’s the purpose in itself. The thing to be sure of is that at this stage you must be given a blue customs form (1 is needed per family, not 1 each). Without it you’ll get stuck later.
Once through the security, ignore the tables of official looking women – they are there to collect forms for Cuban nationals and proceed to the baggage reclaim belt. You should have time here to fill out the customs form.
With your bags in hand, head to the red or green channel as required, it’s at this stage where you’ll need the blue customs form. Luckily we had one and passed without an issue, many others had gone to a different line where the forms were in a pile but weren’t proactively offered so had missed out. They got stuck here and sent all the way back to the start to try again :(
Once you are out of the customs area you then need to exit the terminal completely onto the covered area outside and head either left or right to visit one of the money changers that are either side of the main door.
Full Menus
This outbound menu is valid for VS: 15, 27, 29, 31, 87, 89, 97, 33, 83, 43, 951, 63, 65, 71, 73, 75, 77, 85, 93, 109, 163.
Last edited by stuart_f on 21 Jun 2016, 18:39, edited 4 times in total.